the typhoid rates remain too high. At times the pollution is so great that the quantity of chlorine required to overcome it gives an objectionable taste to the water. Samples taken from a cross section over the Michigan Central Railroad tunnel showed gross pollution at sample points near the Canadian and United States shores, and a considerable pollution extending across the entire river. Samples taken from several cross sections showed gross pollution throughout the entire river from the Michigan Central Railroad tunnel to Fighting Island. From Fighting Island to the mouth of the river the water is grossly polluted and totally unfit as a source of water supply. It is our opinion that such raw water would impose an unreasonable responsibility on any known method of purification, even with the most careful supervision. Unfortunately, Wyandotte, Trenton, and Amherstburg are taking their water supplies from this part of the river. The extensive pollution of the Detroit River is perhaps better indicated by saying that at its head the B. coli count is approximately 5 per 100 c. c., and in the lower portions just below Amherstburg it reaches the enormous figure of 10,592 B. coli per 100 c. c. The pollution in the Detroit River is occasioned by the discharge of raw sewage from its riparian communities, notably the city of Detroit, and by the sewage from vessels. The investigations at the laboratories at Detroit, Windsor, and Amherstburg show that while the waters of the western end of Lake Erie are extensively polluted by the flow of the Detroit River, this pollution does not extend past the islands which separate this end from the remainder of the lake. Lake Erie. Lake Erie, outside of this polluted area and the polluted areas at the mouths of its tributaries and its littoral waters, affords a remarkable instance of self-purification. The purity of the main body of the lake was amply established by examination of its water at several widely separated stations. Niagara River. The laboratories for the study of the Niagara River established at Buffalo, Port Erie, Niagara-on-the-Lake, and Youngstown were operated during the months of May, June, and July, 1913, 4,137 samples of water being collected and examined. This investigation showed that above Niagara Falls the great bulk of the pollution in the river, and due to the discharge of sewage therein, is confined to the marginal waters of the country in which it originates and that the sewage of Buffalo is polluting to a serious extent the available water supplies of the two Tonawandas and the city of Niagara Falls, N. Y. The effect of the pollution of the lower Niagara is to render the river water totally unfit for domestic uses unless purified. All of the lower municipalities have been forced to install and operate water-purification plants, and the results of their operation show only too clearly that the use of the water is accompanied by no proper margin of safety. Lake Ontario. The investigation revealed the fact that the waters of Lake Ontario are comparatively free from B. coli, with the exception of an 18-mile radius from the mouth of the Niagara River, of limited areas at the mouths of other rivers, and of the littoral waters of the lake and of the lanes of vessel travel. St. Lawrence River. The laboratories operated at Kingston and Clayton, as well as at Montreal, during the months of April, May, and August, 1913, for the purpose of examining the waters of the St. Lawrence River, collected and examined 1,890 samples. The St. Lawrence River is the only water supply available for the summer residents at the Thousand Islands and for the communities along its banks. During the period of examination it was observed that the present practice of unrestricted discharge of sewage renders certain areas unfit sources of drinking water. Before the tourists appear in June, with the consequent increase of boat traffic, the waters are in a remarkable state of purity. Below the Thousand Islands population is denser and considerable pollution exists throughout the river, the source of which is the discharge of sewage from vessels and from the riparian communities. St. John River. The laboratories stationed at Van Buren in October, 1913, for the study of the St. John River collected and examined 672 samples. The pollution in this river amounted to about 125 B. coli per 100 c. c. in the late fall. This is excessive in comparison with the figures in the Detroit and Niagara Rivers, population and stream flow considered. This abnormal condition is attributable in large measure to the potato starch factories located along this river, the waste from which contains large numbers of bacteria capable of fermenting lactose. Reference has already been made to the numerous vessels navigating boundary waters and their enormous floating population and the pollution resulting therefrom. This pollution not only clearly exists in boundary rivers, in harbors, and in the vicinity of water intakes, but was found to a harmful extent in the Great Lakes, where its presence is due to the fact that vessels navigating lake waters ply in comparatively narrow lanes in order to avoid collision in the nighttime or during fog. Upbound vessels follow one track and down-bound vessels follow another, and the pollution is confined to the vicinity of these lanes, Vessel pollution. Sawmill and indus trial wastes. Pollution from vessels is of two kinds: (1) Raw sewage in the shape of human excreta, garbage, etc., and (2) water ballast discharged by vessels on approaching ports of designation. This pollution is a serious menace to public health, not alone through the possible contamination of the public water supplies near their intakes, but also by reason of its effect upon the water supplies of other vessels following or crossing the same routes. Complaints were made to the commission regarding a form of pollution which is not of a bacteriological character, existing in the St. John and Rainy Rivers. It results from the deposit of sawdust and other sawmill wastes in the streams, frequently causing nuisances by making the shores and bed of the stream unsightly, unclean, and malodorous. This pollution is also injurious to fish life. At International Falls and at Fort Frances objection was also made to the discharge of wastes from the pulp mills on the Rainy River. Like complaints were made with respect to the St. Croix River, which in part forms the boundary line between New Brunswick and the State of Maine. The pollution complained of in the case of the pulp mills was chiefly due to chemical waste resulting from the manufacture of pulp. This form of pollution is also injurious to fish life and the fishing industry. The pollution from sawmill and pulp-mill wastes has in every instance transboundary effects detrimental to property and health. With the exception of sawmill and pulp-mill wastes no reference has been made to industrial and chemical wastes as a source of pollution. Contamination from these sources is at present so limited and local in its extent that the commission did not regard it as of sufficient moment from an international standpoint to call for any extensive scientific investigation. Unquestionably in the future, unless preventive measures are taken, pollution from all these wastes will have a very injurious effect, and the commission has not been unmindful of this fact in preparing the recommendations hereinafter made. Typhoid fever statistics. The grossly polluted condition of boundary waters is doubtless the cause of the abnormal prevalence of typhoid fever throughout the territory bordering thereon. The table following gives the statistics of death from typhoid fever in the cities and towns therein mentioned for a period of 14 years, beginning with the year 1903: Typhoid death rates per 100,000 of population. Rainy River: International Falls, 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 Fort Frances, Ontario. 665 665 775 Rainy River, Ontario... 0 ** ** *88 ཏུ ཏྟཱ ཋ 8°ཡྻཱ-༠༠ ⌘༠༠ 0 200 200 68 191 15 33 20 42 0 0 127 140 0 14 107 164 163 23 28 0 131 78 63 56 52 0 46 53 103 38 84 26 133 66 393 342 0 0 63 54 23 68 90 154 280 21 58 110 82 48 197 101 148 139 24 20 25 0 0 78 118 87 0 97 194 90 Lewiston, N. Y. North Tonawanda, N.Y. Niagara Falls, Ontario.. Youngstown, N. Y. Ontario. St. Lawrence River: 1 Average for years 1889-1905, 85 deaths. It may be incidently mentioned that there is a marked improvement in the statistical showing in the period since the commission's investigation in 1913. This is largely attributable to the fact that in consequence of this investigation greater efforts have been made. to protect water supplies by the use of bleaching powder and liquid chlorine. The condition, however, is still far from satisfactory. Notwithstanding the general improvement, violent outbreaks of typhoid fever have occurred, and the potential danger must continue to exist in view of the extensive pollution of these waters and the limitations and inefficient operation of water-purification plants. Not only have the border communities suffered from this condition, but the navigation interests have also been injured very severely from the disastrous outbreaks consequent on the use of polluted boundary water. IV. TRANSBOUNDARY EFFECTS OF POLLUTION. This report so far has dealt with pollution generally in boundary waters. The reference as amended calls for a further inquiry into pollution of the waters on one side of the boundary line which may extend to and effect those upon the other side. Some persons who appeared before the commission argued for a literal interpretation of the language of the amended reference and suggested that the only pollution with which the commission is concerned is that which actually crosses the boundary line and has a transboundary effect. While the commission does not accept this narrow interpretation, it must consider the extent to which, and the places at which, pollution has such an effect. Detroit River. The most intense and the most clearly demonstrable cases of pollution crossing the boundary exist in the Detroit and Niagara Rivers. The city of Detroit discharges into the former all the raw sewage from its estimated population of 850,000. On the United States side opposite Amherstburg the pollution of the river reaches the enormous figure of 10,392 B. coli per 100 c. c., and its waters from that point to Lake Erie and the waters of that lake within a radius of about 4 miles from the mouth of the river are very greatly polluted. Beyond question the pollution from Detroit and the towns lower down. the river crosses the boundary line and affects detrimentally health and property on the other side. A notable example of this is to be found in the condition of the shore waters of Bois Blanc Island, a summer resort on the Canadian side of the river which is extremely popular, especially with the inhabitants of Detroit. The island shore waters are very greatly polluted by the sewage from that city. The transboundary effect of this pollution may be estimated from the data given in Tables XII, XIII, and XIV, and the maps opposite pages 38, 39, 40, 41, and 42 of the Progress Report. Transboundary effects are detectable along the lower stretches of the river generally. Owing to the comparative smallness of the towns on the Canadian side, it is not at present possible to trace pollution from them across the boundary, but these towns are growing rapidly, and if they ever attain anything like the size of Detroit or Buffalo, unless successful preventive or remedial measures are adopted, the river will be absolutely unfit for domestic purposes. |